


How Merlin Put the Extra Back in Arthur’s Ordinary (Remix of A Less Ordinary Day)

by Emrys MK (mk_malfoy)



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: 2019 Camelot Remix, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Arthur Knows About Merlin's Magic (Merlin), Bottom Merlin (Merlin), Boys In Love, Chance Meetings, First Time, Fluff and Smut, Hurt/Comfort, Immortal Merlin (Merlin), M/M, Merlin Returns (Merlin), Merlin and Arthur reunited, POV Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Reincarnation, Reunions, Rimming, Short & Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-21
Updated: 2019-07-21
Packaged: 2020-03-30 21:27:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19035922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mk_malfoy/pseuds/Emrys%20MK
Summary: Arthur often dreams of a familiar yet faceless someone from another time and place long ago past. He knows this person was important to him, but try as he may, this elusive dream-dweller remains a mystery… that is until a chance meeting in the heart of 2019 London brings the past and present together and turns an ordinary day extraordinary.





	How Merlin Put the Extra Back in Arthur’s Ordinary (Remix of A Less Ordinary Day)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fifty_fifty](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fifty_fifty/gifts).
  * Inspired by [A Less Ordinary Day](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12099021) by [fifty_fifty](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fifty_fifty/pseuds/fifty_fifty). 



> Fifty, I knew immediately which of your fics I wanted to remix but wasn’t sure it would work because my idea seemed borderline remix. After one of the mods assured me that my idea seemed to be enough like a remix to them, I decided to go ahead with my plan. I hope you like it. 
> 
> Many thanks go out to my beta who shall not be named until reveals.

************

Arthur briefly closed his eyes and inhaled the rich fragrances of freshly blooming flowers and recently mown grass as he looked to his left and admired the vast area of manicured greenery before him. That such beauty and serenity could exist in the centre of the hustle and bustle of busy, drab London never ceased to amaze him.

If only he had time to enjoy it today...

He needed to take a few minutes for himself; hadn’t he promised Morgana that he would take better care of himself and not allow his father’s expectations to overwhelm him? He had, and as much as he had initially balked at her _mothering_ , he now saw the wisdom of her words. Morgana only wanted what was best for her _little brother_. 

He sighed, wishing he could go sit on his usual bench and forget about everything for a few blessed minutes. If only he could, Arthur felt certain he would be able to face whatever came next.

At least that had been his experience over the past twelve months.

Whenever life became hectic, and it often did, Arthur took his sister’s advice and sought refuge within Kensington Gardens, the one place where he could allow his troubles to drift away for an hour or two. Sitting amongst the beauty of nature was soothing to him in a way that no other place could ever be. It was as if the flora were calling out to him and reminding him that not everything in life had a deadline, and that not everyone would scrutinize him mercilessly.

Sadly, such blessed respite would have to wait for another day. Arthur glanced at his mobile and let out a string of words only loud enough for him to hear as he sped up his pace. He was late for his dinner meeting as it was, and his father would not take kindly to his son’s excuse that the gardens gave Arthur a sense of tranquility and a renewed will to continue in his mundane day-to-day existence. 

The thought elicited a sardonic harumph.

Uther Pendragon was all business one hundred percent of the time and had never understood why his son wasn’t. He took every opportunity to remind Arthur that he was expected to one day take the reins at Pendragon Publishing, and had already begun giving his son more responsibilities.

Not wishing to bring forth his father’s ire any more than necessary, Arthur did as asked most of the time and acted as if he cared, but deep down he didn’t, and he couldn’t quite understand why. 

Did he really think there was something else out there that would bring him more happiness than he would get working in publishing? His father often told him that he was reaching for something that did not exist, that he would never be satisfied, and that if he would only cease his endless searching for said elusive happiness, he would realise that what he truly wanted was before his very eyes.

Arthur wished with everything he had that what his father told him was true, but he doubted that very much—though he had no idea why, he felt that he was meant for greater things, which was completely ludicrous, but that’s how he felt, and no amount of trying not to had worked before now so he didn’t hold out much hope that it would work now—and he again wondered what the purpose of his life was as he returned his attention to the noisy street before him.

That was when it happened.

Amongst the throngs of people milling about, travelling here, there, and everywhere, he spotted a splash of inky dark and a dot of royal blue surrounded by rich red and treebark brown walking towards him, only metres away. 

A chill travelled down Arthur’s spine.

Memories of a large castle, complete with noble knights, lethal lances, mysterious magic, and a devious dragon deluged him and began filling in missing puzzle pieces of a haunting dream Arthur had had for the whole of his life.

“God in Heaven,” he whispered unbelievingly as more than a thousand years of repressed memories began melting away in the blink of an eye and the past and present became one. “Merlin,” he mouthed silently as he brought his trembling hands to his mouth. “It’s you,” he said aloud, realising too late that he shouldn’t have said this where he could be heard.

Someone giggled.

Out of his periphery Arthur could see that a little girl, probably no more than five or six years of age, was looking up at him oddly as he continued to stare at a ghost from his past, because that is what it surely was. She stopped giggling and smiled as her mother tugged her hand before the two of them climbed into a waiting vehicle. The little girl looked back at Arthur and graced him with a curt nod.

It was odd and somewhat disconcerting, but no more so than Arthur seeing someone he hadn’t seen in over … _fourteen hundred years_?

Arthur quickly turned his head away, his breathing becoming slightly more laboured. Why were the fates playing around with him like this? He swallowed as he looked around, wondering if anyone else had seen or heard him talking to himself. Thankfully, everyone appeared to be minding their own business, too immersed in their personal daily minutia to pay attention to a strange man who was seeing things.

He knew it would be best if he turned and walked the other direction to prevent himself from making a right fool of himself when he confronted someone who would most assuredly think Arthur had imbibed a few too many, but he had somewhere to be, and he was not a coward. He schooled his face and briskly began walking again, trying to convince himself that he had only seen what he thought was the mystery person from his dreams. 

It was best if he didn’t hope for the impossible. 

But what if it weren’t a figment of his imagination?

Arthur pondered the possibility of this completely crap day being turned right.

It had been one of those days where nothing had gone to plan for Arthur. First, his father had reamed him out in front of the foreign delegation from Beijing that were in London to negotiate a book deal. Second, Gwen, his personal assistant, had informed him that she was moving to Argentina in a month to be with Lancelot (who in the hell named their kid Lancelot!). And third—which was really the first, but at the time Arthur hadn’t thought it a bad thing—he had dreamt that he and tall-pale-thin-beautiful-faceless-man-that-had-featured-in-Arthur’s-dreams-for-as-long-as-he-could-remember were hugging and then doing much more.

It had been a rather nice way to wake up, just as it had been each and every time before. But as the hours had passed, the sun rising, peaking, and finally setting, Arthur was once again left feeling bereft. Each time he had this dream he woke with a glimmer of hope that circumstances for him were about to get better—that the dream foretold of good things for him.

But those good things never happened, and Arthur had always known deep in his soul that they never would. 

So what had begun as a wonderful gift to wake up to, one that had been more than enough to instigate a rather satisfactory morning wank session had turned into a depressing affirmation that Arthur Pendragon was meant to walk this earth alone and never be happy.

As he had left the office and acknowledged the receptionist, George, who oddly enough bore an eerie resemblance to the man from Arthur’s dreams, Arthur recalled wishing that he could force this particular dream to leave the queue and go haunt someone else.

Of course, that wasn’t the way it worked.

It seemed that this particular entity was not finished with Arthur quite yet.

How was one to banish a ghost?

Arthur ever so slowly looked up again and began walking, with the understanding that he had been seeing things. He knew that the bloke who had nearly caused his heart to burst out of his chest would no longer be there.

But he was.

“Merlin,” Arthur said again as he began to tremble. He felt tears prickling, threatening to fall.

Could it really be him? Maybe not, but how else was Arthur to explain how, not even a minute before, he had seen the person from his dreams, and that he had known the person’s name without thought? And how could it be that he had immediately seen another place and time, this man beside him, telling him that they had done it—they had brought about the golden age of Albion?

Why would this man have instigated these memories if he were merely another of the countless strangers Arthur passed on the streets each day?

A million moments, cemented in a time long ago past, vied for release and called out to Arthur so loudly that he was sure everyone around him could hear. Of course, they couldn’t, but Arthur certainly did. He momentarily closed his eyes to ground himself, and in that moment he barreled into something… or someone.

When he opened his eyes, Merlin stood before him. 

Arthur couldn’t speak.

“Oh my gosh,” ***** Arthur’s Merlin said, looking completely bewildered. “I’m so sor—” ***** but he ceased speaking and blinked several times as he studied Arthur. He began trembling. “Arthur!” ***** he half-whispered, half cried-out, his mouth opening and closing as if he were trying to say something else but was unable to. He flung himself at Arthur and squeezed him as if Arthur would disappear if he didn’t hold on tight enough. 

Had anyone else done this to him, Arthur would have stepped back and had a few choice words to say, but in this instance he understood… all too well, and the shock of it all nearly overwhelmed him. He didn’t want Merlin to ever let go. 

“Arthur,” ***** Merlin said again, this time in a whisper as he choked back tears.

After hugging Merlin for dear life, Arthur forced himself to step back, but only enough so he could look into Merlin’s eyes. He couldn’t believe this was happening. He smiled and thought that he had probably never smiled this broadly before. But he really should say something, shouldn’t he?

He most certainly looked a fool—standing in the midst of people trying to get to or from somewhere (there were more than a few glares thrown his and Merlin’s way as others had to walk around them), grinning like a Cheshire cat as he stared at the man he had longed for the whole of his life—but he didn’t care.

He had found his Merlin. “Merlin! My very own Merlin,” ***** he said in a daze as he went for it and kissed Merlin through wet and salty tears (to be sure, Arthur knew as he did this that it was completely mental, but he didn’t care). Merlin’s lips were heaven, exactly how he had always imagined they would be, and he almost couldn’t believe that finally, at long last, he was kissing the man of his dreams, the person he had loved since that day in the courtyard when Merlin had walked up and told him off for being mean to Morris. "I've finally found you.” *****

Arthur had known from that first exchange that this odd, beautiful man would forever change his life.

The people around them began making rude comments about two adults making such a scene in the middle of a busy pavement, but Arthur couldn’t care less. 

Merlin let out a small laugh and brought a hand to his mouth as Arthur pulled away. It was the most beautiful sound in the world, Arthur thought, and he wanted to hear more of it. 

“You have. You have, Arthur, and I’m never _ever_ letting you go again.” *****

That was more than fine with Arthur.

“Get a room,” called out a group of young boys who looked as if they were coming from footy practice. They laughed.

Arthur’s face pinked but he wasn’t embarrassed. “Yeah. We should go somewhere a bit more private,” he said to Merlin as he frowned sheepishly. “Want to come back to mine?” he asked, not knowing what he would do if Merlin said no. After all, they had never been anything more than friends in Camelot. Yes, there was little doubt that they had loved one another—they had shared a bond that nothing, not even death, could break—but that didn’t mean Merlin wanted more than friendship with Arthur. And more than a thousand years had passed. Times changed people. True, Merlin hadn’t backed away from the kiss, so that was a good sign, but maybe that was just because Merlin didn’t want to cause a scene.

“Yeah, we can do that,” Merlin said with a sweet grin and an errant tear as he leant in for another quick peck on the corner of Arthur’s mouth. “I need to ring my mate, Will, and tell him we’ll have to do dinner some other time.” Another peck, this one on Arthur’s nose. “Gods how I have missed you,” he said as he nuzzled Arthur's neck. “You can’t know how long I’ve waited to do this,” he added with a small chuckle.

“Mmm, and I have missed you.” Arthur licked his lips as Merlin pulled away, already intoxicated—Merlin had always had that effect on him, even without any romantic attachment. “Whilst you are ringing Will,” (Arthur wondered, somewhat petulantly, if this Will was the same person that had confessed to being the sorcerer all those many years ago to prevent Merlin from revealing his secret), “I will call my father. We had a dinner meeting scheduled, but I think you are a little more important than that,” Arthur said as he pulled Merlin along. “We should get out of the way if we don’t want to be trampled. This lot doesn’t look too happy with us.”

“Just a little more important?” Merlin asked coyly, his beautiful eyes fluttering beneath his eyelashes as he allowed Arthur to tug him out of the way of a massive group of people who were using the crosswalk.

Arthur didn’t answer with his voice, but his longing look told Merlin all he needed to know.

After making their calls, and after Arthur was once again given the riot act by his father, Arthur and Merlin made their way to Arthur’s flat, hand-in-hand. Arthur briefed Merlin on what his occupation was when Merlin asked what a former king did in 2019.

They hadn’t closed the door behind them when Arthur pushed Merlin against the wall and attacked him with kisses.

“Take me to your bed and make love to me, Arthur,” Merlin said in between gasps as Arthur assaulted his neck. “I need to feel you. I need to know that this is real.”

Arthur heard the trembling in Merlin’s voice and decided then and there that he couldn’t have that. Merlin should never be brought to despair because he was missing his Arthur.

Gently, he picked up Merlin and kicked the door closed (he wondered if nosy Noreen had been listening from the next flat—the walls weren’t that thick—but if she had, Arthur decided he didn’t much care; he and Merlin would give her a proper show to remember) as he made his way down the hall towards his bedroom.

“I do hope your tastes haven’t changed, Arthur.You have no idea how often I fantasized about you making me scream as you pounded into me and pushed me down into the satin sheets on your bed.”

Arthur didn’t respond, but he grinned, quite sure that Merlin wouldn’t be disappointed. He settled him onto the end of the bed as he pulled back the covers and grinned at Merlin, whose hands were already gliding over the satin.

Merlin stood and began slowly divesting Arthur of his clothing. Part of Arthur wanted to be the one to divest Merlin of his clothing before he himself was stripped, but upon further thought he decided that he liked it this way—it was somewhat reminiscent of earlier times. They could change things up next time.

Arthur lifted his arms over his head and closed his eyes as a tongue and teeth grazed his nipples whilst his shirt was removed. Merlin’s mouth was sinful as it traced the scar on Arthur’s chest. 

Next there were tears. Arthur very nearly pulled Merlin up and hugged him, to stop his crying, but he didn’t. He needed to let this play out, and if Merlin needed to mourn for that which he had lost all those many years ago, then by gods, Arthur would let him.

Arthur felt Merlin stand and hug him. The sound of Merlin’s emotions were clear and undeniable as he hugged Arthur to him and kissed his neck. 

“Don’t ever leave me again,” Merlin said, his voice tremulous. “I’ve waited so long for you, Arthur. You can’t imagine what it was like to be here and to never die and to want you and search for you but not have you.”

Arthur shook his head. “I won’t.” He fervently hoped his words were the truth. He couldn’t bear to think of Merlin missing him again. 

Had Merlin really been missing him for all these years? It was inconceivable to Arthur—the idea of someone being immortal and never dying—but he knew Merlin was a powerful sorcerer. Gaius had told him Emrys was the most powerful sorcerer to ever walk the earth. 

But what did that mean for Arthur?

He was definitely not mortal.

That meant… well, that meant... Arthur couldn’t even begin to contemplate what that meant, so he didn’t.

Arthur stepped back and looked into Merlin’s eyes as his breeches were removed. When Merlin gave his cock a teasing lick, Arthur knew he wouldn’t last. Thankfully, Merlin seemed to realise this because with a few whispered words and a brief change of the colour of his eyes to gold, his own clothing was gone.

Ah, yes, Merlin was magic itself, wasn’t he? Arthur had only seen him do magic once, and the previous experience wasn’t one Arthur wanted to remember.

This was a much better memory to hold on to, Arthur mused as he perused Merlin’s body with his eyes and tried to memorize every inch of it lest this be a dream and he wake up alone.

Arthur maneuvered them so that the back of Merlin’s legs were hitting the bed, and then they were kissing. Arthur couldn’t get enough of his Merlin. He could be in him as deep as he could go and that wouldn’t be nearly enough.

Ever so slowly, Arthur settled Merlin onto the bed and covered him with his body. Gods, it felt so good. He was home. No matter where he was or what time period it was, as long as he had his Merlin, he would be okay.

Merlin pulled Arthur down into a kiss and they stayed like that for some time, but eventually Arthur forced himself to pull away.

And like magic—having a magician for a lover was rather lovely—there was a condom and a tube of lube beside Arthur. 

He took his time preparing Merlin.

“You have no idea how often I dreamt of those fingers of yours preparing me, Arthur,” Merlin said cheekily in between gasps as his prostate was stroked. 

Arthur let out a throaty chuckle as his fingers thrust into Merlin’s now pliant hole once more. He couldn’t wait to see the look on Merlin’s face when he buried his cock inside him. 

“Okay, you should get on with it if you don’t want me to come before you are ready, Arthur.”

Arthur didn’t need to be told twice; it wasn’t long before he was gritting his teeth, trying with all his might to remain calm as he buried himself inside the welcoming warmth of Merlin. It was like coming home after a long journey, and Merlin took him in inch-by-inch, beckoning him to go deeper and deeper.

“I love you,” Merlin said as his legs were pushed up near his shoulders as Arthur leant down to kiss him.

All there was in the moment was his and Merlin’s bodies, in a dance. A dance they had waited more than fourteen hundred years to have.

As good as this was, Arthur had the urge to ask Merlin to get on his hands and knees so Arthur could pound into him as hard as he wanted to; hadn’t Merlin said he wanted Arthur to drive him deeper into the bed? But for the moment Arthur decided to enjoy looking at Merlin and seeing those eyes, that mouth, the ears that he had so missed as he marked his lover as his. They could change positions for their next round.

When Arthur came, Merlin joined him. Neither spoke as they experienced the highs of their orgasms. It was much too intimate for words. 

Arthur listened to Merlin’s breathing and thought that he never wanted to spend a moment more in this bed without hearing that beautiful sound next to him.

They rested only long enough to catch their breaths before carrying on. Only after Merlin swallowed Arthur’s cock and sucked it dry and Arthur turned Merlin over and stuck his tongue in Merlin’s reddened hole as far as he could get it before ramming into him with his cock until Merlin screamed out something that sounded like _for the love of Camelot_ , did they finally sleep.

But they were up and at it again soon. After all, they had over fourteen hundred years to make up for, and there was no reason to put off until tomorrow what they could do tonight.

Later, as they watched the first vestiges of the sun peaking through the window, they lay sated and whole in each other’s arms.

They never were parted again.

**Author's Note:**

>  ***** These quotes were taken directly from Fifty's fic.


End file.
